British_Pharaoh wrote:has anyone other than a first baseman fielded a Brantley ball hit into play?

He's started to piss even me off now.

He seems to beat the ball right into the ground most of his at bats so far this season.

It's quite annoyin because 90% of the time he puts together a good at bat; working the count, spoiling good pitches, just like in his first at bat tonight where he was down 0-2 and brought it back to 3-2. The problem is the end product is the same. ground out to the right side.

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

British_Pharaoh wrote:has anyone other than a first baseman fielded a Brantley ball hit into play?

He's started to piss even me off now.

He seems to beat the ball right into the ground most of his at bats so far this season.

It's quite annoyin because 90% of the time he puts together a good at bat; working the count, spoiling good pitches, just like in his first at bat tonight where he was down 0-2 and brought it back to 3-2. The problem is the end product is the same. ground out to the right side.

Well the good news is he is still putting up good at bats. Which bodes well for him breaking out at some point. With that said, I have never been a big Brantley fan, so Im not expecting much to be honest. He's not a bad player, but I still think he is a 4th OF'er.

It seems to take Ubaldo forever to warm up, so here's an idea. Make him a middle-innings guy and let him start warming up when the game starts. He just might be ready by the 5th...I know after listening to this game I am!

I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.~~~Annie Savoy-"Bull Durham"

If Masterson and Jimenez are this mediocre throughout the season, we're going to have to get very lucky to stay anywhere near .500. They can't count on Tomlin and Gomez to be the guys to carry the slack. Even Lowe's peripherals (short data-set, of course) aren't great.

WiscTribeFan wrote:If Masterson and Jimenez are this mediocre throughout the season, we're going to have to get very lucky to stay anywhere near .500. They can't count on Tomlin and Gomez to be the guys to carry the slack. Even Lowe's peripherals (short data-set, of course) aren't great.

Color me petrified.

Yep. And wait til Hannahan regresses to the Duncan...err...you know what I mean. The guys that can hit better hit because Hannahan will be closer to Shelley Duncan numbers than Evan Longoria numbers and he's carried this team thus far.

At some point, you have to think Choo, Santana, and Masterson get it going, but who knows. This is the same way last year started and they completely fell apart due to injuries and ineffectiveness. Difference last year was that Masterson was 5-0 with a 2.18 in April.

Masterson is interesting. His BABip is actually well below the last couple of seasons so it's not bad luck. It's an extremely high number of walks and more HR than he usually gives up. The stats definitely back up what we're seeing - too many pitches belt high out over the plate. Not enough ground ball outs.

They're going to be a streaky bunch. Teams constructed like this are always streaky. They can't buy a hit with RISP anymore after that was all they did for the first four games of the road trip.

Everybody in the Central has flaws. The Tigers have 4 guys in the rotation taking turns getting their brains bashed in. The White Sox have as many holes in their lineup as we do. Just have to hope our key guys get it going and keep going that way.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

skatingtripods wrote:At some point, you have to think Choo, Santana, and Masterson get it going, but who knows. This is the same way last year started and they completely fell apart due to injuries and ineffectiveness. Difference last year was that Masterson was 5-0 with a 2.18 in April.

Masterson is interesting. His BABip is actually well below the last couple of seasons so it's not bad luck. It's an extremely high number of walks and more HR than he usually gives up. The stats definitely back up what we're seeing - too many pitches belt high out over the plate. Not enough ground ball outs.

They're going to be a streaky bunch. Teams constructed like this are always streaky. They can't buy a hit with RISP anymore after that was all they did for the first four games of the road trip.

Everybody in the Central has flaws. The Tigers have 4 guys in the rotation taking turns getting their brains bashed in. The White Sox have as many holes in their lineup as we do. Just have to hope our key guys get it going and keep going that way.

Fister is absolutely crucial to the Tigers. If he doesn't stay heslthy, they're in trouble. That was what happened at the trade deadline last year...they got the good starter, we got the bad one. He's a legit two behind Verlander. Since all star break 2010, Jimenez is a serviceable number 5 starter. NOthing more, nothing less, that's what he's been. Things can change in a hurry, but we're well over a year of this from Ubaldo.